Fantasy Hockey Guide: Risers, Fallers & Goalie Notes

Sean Allen of ESPN.com serves as a fantasy analyst, having won both 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hockey Writer of the Year awards. You can follow Sean on Twitter (@Seanard). ESPN doesn’t allow much room for debate over its fantasy hockey rankings. They typically consist of just two sentences that provide a quick reminder of our standard format, along with the top 250 players for fantasy hockey. This week we will look back at some of the biggest risers and fallers since preseason started, exploring what factors go into ranking players. Remember to refer back to what appears at the top of these lists when making decisions: these rankings are determined based on expected fantasy points produced between Friday, Nov 1st through the season’s conclusion.” Fantasy points are determined according to ESPN Fantasy standard game scoring formulae (for skaters: goals = 2 points, assists = 1 point, shots and hits count for 0.1 point each, blocked shots are worth 0.50 and special teams points total 0.25; for goaltenders wins equal 4 points while overtime losses count as 1; shutouts equal three; saves equal 0.22 point while goals against equal negative two). “Jump Ahead: Goalies | Power Play | DroppablesAccording to ESPN rankings for fantasy hockey, their rankings tend towards projection-driven. Since points leagues are the predominant form of play and points are quantifiable measures of value, mathematics comes into play here as much as anything. How many fantasy points will a player rack up between now and season’s end? Stack them from most to fewest; ranking complete. Although this process seems straightforward, much goes into providing each player their projected projection. Instead of delving deeper into how this sausage is created (we will do that later), let me instead highlight when rule changes occur for rankings. Think about it this way – fantasy rankings represent almost an exact list of 250 projected point earners until season’s end, giving fans plenty of opportunities for entertainment! It isn’t Too Late To Play Fantasy HockeyCreating Or Join A Fantasy Hockey LeagueOn ESPN It starts every Monday so sign-up now>>>
Rankings have an escape clause built in to them to balance positions, providing fantasy leagues with enough goaltenders or forwards or defensemen as fantasy picks for fantasy leagues to consider. We require positional balance for these rankings to be useful. ESPN fantasy leagues usually employ starting lineups consisting of nine forwards, five defensemen and two goaltenders; prorating these ratios out over 250 means approximately 141 forwards, 78 defensemen and 31 goaltenders are represented in that roster. Adjustments have been made logically to those totals to account for utility spots and goaltenders you don’t necessarily want on your roster in any fantasy league, meaning I stopped including D once there are 76 D and 150 F in my rankings; that explains the presence of clusters towards the bottom of this top 250 list. So that our rankings would reflect league relevance, we imposed the required amount of goaltenders into their rankings. Let’s examine some of the biggest changes and fluctuations in rankings this season. Let’s also take a closer look at any possible risers or fallers for future consideration. Here we look back over the first month, starting back with preseason.Lukas Dostal of Anaheim Ducks (674 preseason; current 205): Nobody expected Dostal not to assume a larger share of Anaheim’s workload or demonstrate why he might be their goaltender of tomorrow/now. No, his absence was intentional since Ducks weren’t expected to produce fantasy points from behind their net this season. Dostal earned 40.2 fantasy points last season through 44 starts; so far this season in nine starts, he’s already earned that amount! We will soon know. Introduce him into your team and see for yourself: Can Carter Hart go off like an explosion from here on out? There is precedent – in 2022-23 Carter Hart scored 50.0 fantasy points across his first eight games played! Fantasy hockey essentials* Free agent pickups: Who to add * Weekly trends: Power Play/Goalie selection* Projections| Goalie Depth Chart| Rankings | Player Rater| How to play six minutes daily* It isn’t too late, sign up today!
Pavel Dorofeyev (W), Vegas Golden Knights (655 in preseason and current 217): For me personally, Alexander Holtz fits this role very well. Dorofeyev quickly established himself as the top option on the Knights power play alongside Mark Stone, Tomas Hertl and Jack Eichel after taking over Olofsson for their start to season power play. Ian Cole (preseason 301 to current 158): Not every start to a season can get so much attention as has happened this year with Utah Hockey Club’s impressive start — not even their impressive beginning to this campaign has made national news headlines yet! Cole has quietly put in the time and amassed impressive numbers over time. Though Cole may not win you every week in fantasy hockey leagues, he ranks 36th overall among defenseman with 23.2 fantasy points – bettering Rasmus Dahlin, Quinn Hughes, and Erik Karlsson to name just some examples of notable defensemen he outranks. Quinton Byfield of Los Angeles Kings (Preseason 171, Current 378) appears not as capable for second line center duties than initially predicted by many pundits. But the Penguins goaltending crease has been turbulent to start the season while Jarry has taken to playing in the AHL. Both goaltenders are currently coming off of shutout performances as Boston finds their stride. Jason Zucker, Buffalo Sabres (96.5%): His top unit includes Tage Thompson, Dylan Cozens, JJ Peterka and Rasmus Dahlin who all scored power-play goals over the past three games with both assisted by Zucker. Create your fantasy hockey league the way you’ve always imagined it by selecting league size, scoring model and rules you prefer! It’s free – create it now!
Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks (0.7%) may need more power-play points this season to reach his fantasy elite status; therefore, this team needs to do better at providing consistent power-play opportunities for him. Bedard may need help here in terms of consistency. Bedard and Seth Jones remain on the first unit, while Tyler Bertuzzi, Ryan Donato, Philipp Kurashev, Lukas Reichel and Teuvo Teravainen have seen action within three games alone on different units from there. Patrick Kane (29.3%), RW for Detroit Red Wings: This power-play unit of Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider have scored four power play goals across their past three contests and now lead all NHL power-play units! Patrick Kane (29.3%): It features some of Detroit Red Wings top talent including Dylan Larkin who, Alex DeBrincat DeBrincat Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider to name just five members – but Kane alone (28%) is leading it. Even though Kane has yet to achieve his fantasy potential, all indications point toward it being an advantageous season in Detroit for him. Uvis Balinskis of the Florida Panthers (99.95%): As noted in our waiver watch post from Monday, Uvis Balinskis had secured his quarterback job while they were traveling through Finland. He remains as one of their primary passers even with their roster changes this season. Add him now and see what happens; these forwards on this top unit are extremely dangerous. Timothy Liljegren (99.5%) of San Jose Sharks may give Timothy Liljegren the opportunity to compete against Jake Walman for their quarterback job. Resolving that question remains to be seen until Macklin Celebrini returns – which should happen by Tuesday night if everything goes according to plan. Ryker Evans (82.8%) of Seattle Kraken currently leads their power play minutes. I don’t yet have clarity regarding who makes up either group on that team but Evans appears to be leading that unit’s efforts on special teams. That being said, neither unit is producing goals currently.play1:10Stat Stories: Monday’s NHL Fantasy PerformancesHere are some of the standout fantasy NHL performers from Monday, including Jake Allen and Adrian Kempe. DroppablesDevon Toews (D, Colorado Avalanche; 70% rostered in fantasy hockey league) may find his scoring touch this month. Artturi Lehkonen and Jonathan Drouin’s return dates remain close despite any delays that arise, while Valeri Nichushkin should return midmonth when his suspension concludes and Gabriel Landeskog may make another appearance at some point in 2018. All this leads us to conclude that Toews may finally emerge from his fantasy doldrums when Colorado finally raises their collective sail later this month. So is he droppable? Depending on your league size and expectations for him in games played per year. In any case, his current average of 0.8 fantasy points per game won’t help your chances at victory any better!